Table of Contents
Status of Cheetah
- The cheetah is the only large carnivore to have gone extinct in India, primarily due to hunting and habitat loss.
- Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Korea, Madhya Pradesh, is widely believed to have killed the last three recorded cheetahs in India in 1947.
- In 1952, the Indian government officially declared the Cheetah extinct in the country.
Please note
- In India, the cheetah occurred in Rajputana, Punjab, Ganges areas, northern part of the Deccan Plateau. And Gujarat and Central India.
- Asiatic Cheetah is extinct in India, Iraq, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- Cheetahs are listed as “Vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Cheetahs are found in the eastern and southern ranges of Africa. Small populations of cheetahs can be also be found in North Africa and Iran.
- African Cheetah is vulnerable. It has population of about 7000 spread across the continent. Asiatic Cheetah is critically endangered with around 50 cheetahs in Iran.
Why did Cheetah go extinct in India?
- Main Reason : Hunting..!!
- For centuries, hunting was a favoured activity for royalty in India. The cheetah, which was relatively easy to tame and less dangerous than tigers, was frequently used by Indian nobility for sport-hunting.
- The earliest available record for cheetahs being used for hunts in India, comes from the 12th century Sanskrit text Manasollasa, which was produced by the Kalyani Chalukya ruler, Someshvara III (reigned from 1127-1138 CE).
- Cheetah coursing was prominently used activity in the medieval period and was carried out on a large scale during the Mughal empire. Emperor Akbar, who reigned from 1556-1605, was particularly fond of the activity and is recorded to have collected 9,000 cheetahs in total.
Why did Cheetah go extinct in India?
- Main Reason : Hunting..!!
- Although the British were not very interested in coursing with the cheetahs but they hunted cheetahs for sport.
- Tigers were the choice animals for the British hunting but both Indian and British “sport” hunters also targeted cheetahs. In fact there was monetary reward for the killing of cheetahs. In Sindh, the reward for killing a cheetah cub was Rs 6, and it was Rs 12 for an adult.
- Environmental historians argue that the administrative policy of the British Raj played a “major role in cheetah extermination in India”.
- Under the British Raj, forests were extensively cleared, so as to develop settlements and to set up indigo, tea and coffee plantations. This further resulted in the loss of habitat for big cats, contributing to their decline.
Now, You must be thinking..
The History of Reintroduction
- The State Wildlife Board of Andhra Pradesh was the first to suggest the policy of Cheetah reintroduction in 1955, on an experimental basis.
- In the 1970s, the Department of Environment formally requested Iran, which had 300 Asiatic cheetahs at that time. Before the arrival of Cheetahs, the Shah of Iran was deposed and deal could not be finalized.
- Attempts to bring cheetahs to India were revived once more in 2009, when the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and the Wildlife Trust of India conducted a meeting to discuss the feasibility of cheetah reintroduction. Several sites were chosen, of which Kuno-Palpur National Park was seen as the most suitable.
- However, in 2010 the Supreme Court stayed the order to reintroduce cheetah to Kuno- Palpur because the National Board for Wildlife had not been privy to the matter. The court gave priority to reintroduction of the Asiatic lion, which is now found in Gir National Park, Gujarat.
- Finally, in 2020, while responding to a plea by the government, the Supreme Court announced that African cheetahs could be introduced in a “carefully chosen location” on an experimental basis.
What is the problem with reintroduction?
What is the problem with reintroduction?
What is the problem with reintroduction?
- African Cheetahs in India?
- Is 10 SqKm area enough?
- Can Cheetahs, Leopards, Lions & Tigers co exist in Kuno?
- Man – Animal Conflict?
- Is it really viable? Can we save those reintroduced cheetahs?
Cheetah v Leopard
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